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An Analysis of the Dynamics of Areas Affected by Steppe Fires in Western Kazakhstan on the Basis of Earth Remote Sensing Data

  • SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF ARID TERRITORIES
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Abstract

Regular landscape fires alter the species composition of the vegetation cover, activate erosion processes, destroy animals and their habitats, and act as a greenhouse gas emission source. Therefore, it is extremely important to get an understanding of fire regimes in various landscapes. Forest fires are examined in many studies; by contrast, grass fires in general and steppe fires in particular remain poorly studied. This paper examines the fire frequency dynamics in zonal natural landscapes in three regions of Western Kazakhstan over the 2001–2020 period on the basis of expert interpretation of Landsat satellite images; the verification was performed on the basis of MCD14ML active burning data and MCD64A1, FireCCI51, and GABAM burned area data. In total, 18 600 burned areas were identified, and their total size over the 2001–2020 period amounts to almost 60% of the study area. Most of the area affected by fires is represented by a relatively small number of very large-scale fires (over 25 000 ha each); while the largest burned areas exceed 500 000 ha. Two-thirds of all burned areas were affected by fires two or more times; 43% of them, three or more times. After 2010, the frequency of fire occurrence in the study area decreased significantly; primarily, due to the increase in livestock numbers and secondarily, due to the deterioration of hydrothermal conditions. In arid conditions, the weather affects the fire regime not as a factor contributing to the spread of fire, but as a factor affecting the accumulation of sufficient amounts of combustible materials. Therefore, a decrease in precipitation and an increase in temperatures and pasture loads reduce the number of fires and burned areas since the plant mortmass reserves decline.

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Funding

This study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project no. 19-35-60 007 (Spatiotemporal Patterns in the Dynamics of the State of Arid Pasture Landscapes Based on the Analysis of Their Spectral–Reflective Properties).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117997, Moscow, Russia

    S. S. Shinkarenko

  2. Federal Research Center for Agroecology, Complex Reclamation, and Protective Afforestation, Russian Academy of Sciences, 400062, Volgograd, Russia

    A. N. Berdengalieva

  3. Volgograd State University, 400062, Volgograd, Russia

    A. N. Berdengalieva, V. V. Doroshenko & Ya. A. Naichuk

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  1. S. S. Shinkarenko
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  2. A. N. Berdengalieva
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  3. V. V. Doroshenko
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Correspondence to S. S. Shinkarenko.

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Translated by L. Emeliyanov

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Shinkarenko, S.S., Berdengalieva, A.N., Doroshenko, V.V. et al. An Analysis of the Dynamics of Areas Affected by Steppe Fires in Western Kazakhstan on the Basis of Earth Remote Sensing Data. Arid Ecosyst 13, 29–38 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079096123010122

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079096123010122

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